


Loving memory

by Pearlislove



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Bittersweet, Character Death, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 17:39:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11063904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearlislove/pseuds/Pearlislove
Summary: It was funny, really. Somehow, Luke had always imagined that the day his mother passed would not be anything specially. Especially in the last few weeks of her life, he had thought of it, and been so certain that despite all she’d done nothing would change once she was gone.He could never have been more wrong.





	Loving memory

**Author's Note:**

> In memory of Elizabeth Sladen and Sarah Jane Smith, the best TV character and actress <3

It was funny, really. Somehow, Luke had always imagined that the day his mother passed would not be anything specially. Especially in the last few weeks of her life, he had thought of it, and been so certain that despite all she’d done nothing would change once she was gone.

 

He could never have been more wrong.

 

The day after Sarah Jane Smith died, when the word had had time to spread and Luke had the time to contact The Doctor and Jo, there had been a crowd of people standing on her front step. They were quite, like school kids standing in line for class, queuing from the gate up to the house.  

 

Luke looked at them in surprise, tears gathering in his eyes and the air leaving his lungs as he realized that he'd probably never seen or heard of most of these people, and he certainly hadn't informed them, but they'd found out and they’d come anyway. They'd come, because in one way or another Sarah Jane had meant something to them, and they felt grief over her passing.   
  
One by one, he started let them in, realising that they were queuing and they weren't going to leave until they had paid their respect. Those he did not know who they were, he asked by the door who they were and why they were there. Growing up with Sarah Jane as his mother and The Doctor as his weird sort-of uncle had taught not everyone was honest, nor were they trustworthy.

 

Here however, it seemed only those who cared came, and it made him smile through the sadness and the pain to face the people who had loved his mother.   
  
There was a blond haired woman in a pristine blue suit who carried with her tiger lilies and the framed photo of a young Sarah Jane holding a small child, standing happily smiling next to a military-clad man in a science lab. She called herself Kate Stewart, and said that she was there to represent both herself and her late father, The Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Luke remembered him well from their run in with the Bane, and though he could not possibly be there in person, it made sense that he would be there is spirit.

 

He could not find a single reason not to let her in.   
  
Then there was Jo Jones, with her grandson Santiago. She went on and on talking as she always did, but her voice was hushed and subdued. She gave him a bone crushing hug and her big eyes overflowed with tears as she offered her condolences. Her posture was slumped, her entire being tired and broken as she stood before him.

 

Suddenly, she appeared so much older than Luke had ever seen her, aged by grief and loss. Santiago clung to her arm, holding on to her with one arm as though scared she'd fall. He looked at Luke  apologetically as they entered, not saying anything but trying to convey that he cared still. He had white lilies in his hands, a whole bouquet of them, and Luke felt his stomach clenching as he was reminded of the time they'd all thought the doctor died, and the hole story that had unfolded from there.

 

His mother had told him, that Jo Grant had brought white lilies to The Doctor’s funeral, too. 

 

He didn't look away from the lilies until they were no longer in his field of vision.   
  
Entering side by side, was a sunburnt older couple clutching the hands of a dark skinned girl standing between them. There was a heavy expression of grief on their faces, drawn out and tired expression resting on their lips and in their eyes. their hands squeezing the girl's hard as they stood before the house, seeking  comfort in a child too young to understand. When he asked, they called themselves Ben and Polly, and the girl Mae. They were old companions of The Doctor, apparently, and had come all the way from India to be there. Luke wondered how they’d made it to England so fast, but he didn't ask. They carried with them photos of Luke And Sarah Jane that Sarah Jane had emailed them, and it was all he needed to let them in, for he truly understood.   
  
There were two elderly men in suits, one of them so frail looking that it was almost a wonder he was still alive himself. They called themselves Benton and Yates, and claimed to have worked for UNIT alongside The Doctor and Sarah Jane. They gave him a salute as Luke stepped out of their way and he smiled sadly as they entered.   
  


After the men entered, the now not-so long que has been temporarily scattered as a minor explosion went off on the front lawn, not very aggressive but loudly enough scare the remaining people - who most likely had their fair share of bad experiences with bombs and the like. 

 

As Luke went to see what happened, it appeared that the explosion was caused by something a woman in a denim jacket had dropped from her handbag. She seemed honestly scared and surprised herself, jumping and moving away quite quickly as the explosion went off. And as the rest of the people waiting to go inside stepped back in line, the woman stayed off to the side fiddling with her handbag.

 

Luke desperately hoped she was not about to drop any more explosives.

 

The next one who stepped forth, nervously glancing back at the one who’d stepped to the side, was a brown haired woman who spoke in a thick Australian accent. She was accompanied by another brown haired woman in a top that perhaps was a little too revealing, and they both offered their condolences.

 

They called themselves Tegan and Peri, and just from the sadness in their eyes and their shaking hands trying to keep steady grips around two bouquets of roses, he concluded there was reason to let them in.   
  


Joining up shortly after them, was the woman who’d dropped the exploding container. She was middle aged, with patchwork clothes and sloppily braided hair, and looked like someone who tested some very weird stuff in the sixties and never quite came down from the high. Wasting no time, she ran forth and gave him a heartfelt apology, explaining she’d accidentally dropped a container of homemade explosives from her bag. Luke thought to ask why she brought explosives when going to mourn someone, but thought better of it and nodded instead. Seeing that he understood, or at least accepted it, she then continued to explain that her name was Dorothy McShane, but that he should call her Dotty, and that she was so sorry to hear about about Sarah Jane.

 

At the end of her speech, Luke was quite dazed, her tirad  somehow more confusing than any of Jo’s might have been, and he let her in because he didn’t know to stop her.   
  
Following in Dotty’s footstep, was a highly intellectual-looking couple in sixties style clothes. As they stepped forth the man tried to laugh at the other woman’s antics, but his laughter was hollow and the woman beside him didn’t share his amusement. They both smiled politely at Luke, and as he watched them he saw that the woman was holding onto a single yellow rose, her hand squeezing the stalk so hard it looked as though the thorns were digging into her skin. The man had his arms securely wrapped around the woman’s waist, trying to somehow protect his - Luke assumed - wife from the sudden grief as they were forced to face it head on. Ian and Barbara Chesterton, they’d said before he could ask, and he nodded. Seeing the woman’s grip of the rose tightening even more he’d let them in without further questioning. 

  
  


Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Luke 

is standing in an empty yard. He is staring at a square of green grass in need of cutting and a cracked concrete carpark. From early that morning it had been filled with people, standing in line to pay their respects to Sarah Jane Smith.

 

Now, they were gone, having entered the house only to leave him standing alone, staring at the emptiness and waiting for more people to come.

 

Already that morning, he had asked Haresh, Gita, Rani, Clyde, Maria and Alan not to come over, or go home, depending if they had already stayed the night with him. It was not meant in a bad way, he appreciated his friends support and their determination not leave her alone but he didn't want them there today, for today was not for them. Today were for people, other people, who knew his mother in an other way.

 

These were people that used words like hero and saviour instead single mom and terrible cook. These were people who had never thought she really left the TARDIS behind, and who barely did it themselves.

 

For them, every breath she’d taken and every word she’d said, had been a legend, and they wanted to show the impact she had made. They were there, because they shared her story, and honoured her ending. 

  
  
  


He sighs, turn away and is about to go,  now convinced that no one else is coming. However, he is stopped in his track when he hears a sound -  **the sound.** The whooshing,whirring noise that could mean but one thing in the entire universe. He hears it, and is prepared to turn around, but then he hears it again. And again. He count to ten times the sound was repeated, and then he finally turns around, seeing that there is ten Doctors and ten TARDISs. Luke only recognises two of them, but of course they're him, they couldn’t possibly be anyone or anything else in the entire universe.

 

Wordlessly, they smile at him, and walk inside too, arranging in some kind of line that he imagines might be chronological, as they all try to get into the already crowded house. He lets them, tears flowing freely and the most bittersweet smile on his lips.

  
He’d almost thought he wouldn't come.


End file.
